As previously reported in the CSO Meter Early Warning Updates, Belarus recently implemented new direct and indirect licensing mechanisms that restrict the capacity of CSOs to undertake various activities, including the production and distribution of printed publications and other information products, the provision of social services and services in the domains of education, healthcare, sports and other areas common to CSOs. In some cases, these changes have resulted in CSOs completely withdrawing from specific activities, with these areas being ceded to commercial and government service providers that can manage the increased licensing requirements.
However, in 2024, the introduction of licensing for residential social services resulted in the collapse of the entire industry that operated care homes. As a result of these negative changes, the government was forced almost immediately and promptly to go for the easing of license requirements.
On July 1, 2024, amendments to the Law on Social Services and Law on Licensing came into force, introducing licensing for providing social services in the form of inpatient social care. Those who failed to obtain a licence were supposed to cease operations as of October 1.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has asserted that the licensing of this activity will be subject to a range of criteria. The licensing requirements for this sector pertain to fire safety standards, sanitary and epidemiological requirements, and the content and quality of social services. The government additionally established the requirements for equipping premises to provide such services.
At the time of introducing the new regulation, 34 non-state entities were providing residential social services to elderly citizens and people with disabilities in Belarus. Of these, 11 had already suspended their operations before the licensing process began due to the flaws found by state agencies. In addition to these non-state entities, there were 81 state care homes.
As a result, merely three organisations in the entire country of Belarus had obtained the required license. Several others were in the process of acquiring one. Yet, the majority did not attempt to the license, presumably finding it unfeasible to comply with the stringent licensing criteria. Many care homes were compelled to announce their immediate closure to clients. As the supply of residential care homes has been reduced by a third due to the pull-out of non-state providers, the change had severe social consequences. Families had to urgently bring home their seriously ill relatives and search for alternative care options. According to media reports, the redistribution of former residents of private care homes to state institutions led to a shortage of beds. Many families have opted to hire home care workers rather than send their elderly relatives to state institutions. State-run care homes providing residential social services could not accommodate all those in need and the topic gained significant public attention. The population of elderly people in Belarus increased by more than 200,000 over the past decade, making them vulnerable to lacking social services.
As per the Law on Social Services, non-governmental non-profit organisations are instrumental in executing the nation’s unified state policy. This involvement encompasses the provision of social services, including through state social contracting, financed through the allocation of subsidies to non-governmental non-profit organisations for the delivery of social services and the implementation of social projects. Legislation in state social contracting is developing, including in 2024, when improvements were made at the level of government resolutions, and tenders for the provision of funds under the state social contract in the field of social services to the population were expanded.
Consequently, the government initiated a review of the licensing requirements for premises providing social services, as outlined in Government Resolution No. 963 dated December 18, 2024, which served to adjust the previously adopted Resolution No. 490 dated July 11, 2024, entitled “On Requirements for Single-Family Residential Buildings Used for the Provision of Social Services in the Form of Inpatient Social Care”. The fact is that almost all private care homes are not located in major capital buildings but in townhouses or houses in housing estates and are usually rented. It is the requirements for these buildings that have led to many licence refusals, as well as the extremely short three-month period allowed for the licensing process.
Among other things, this recent regulation has introduced amendments to the fire safety requirements for private residences. These amendments include reducing the minimum size requirements for doors and windows, alterations to the evacuation exits and fire danger signs, and introducing more relaxed requirements for the fire resistance of finishing materials. Paradoxically, concerns regarding non-compliance with fire safety requirements by numerous private care homes were previously cited as a rationale for implementing licensing regulations in this domain. (State boarding houses are typically situated in designated major capital buildings, where adherence to these fire safety requirements is more straightforward, but the psychological comfort of the interior environment for residents is marginally lower in comparison to private residences).
“The adjustment of the list of requirements will allow legal entities planning to use a single-family house for residential social services to reduce the amount of work required to bring such houses into compliance with the established requirements without reducing the level of safety”, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection stated. “The state does not have a monopoly on social services”, the Ministry said back in August, when the negative consequences of excessive licensing requirements in this area became apparent.
The impact of this change on the decision of former social assistance providers, including CSOs who were compelled to depart from the field, return to it, and attempt to provide again this type of social service remains uncertain.